Gerry Rice, the International Monetary Fund's spokesperson, said on Friday that the US import tariffs on steel and aluminum cause damage to both the United States and its trading partners.
"The import restrictions announced by the U.S. President are likely to cause damage not only outside the U.S., but also to the U.S. economy itself, including to its manufacturing and construction sectors, which are major users of aluminum and steel," Rice said.
The IMF expressed concern that proposed measures will, de facto, expand the circumstances where countries use the national-security rationale to justify broad-based import restrictions.
Rice said, "We encourage the U.S and its trading partners to work constructively together to reduce trade barriers and to resolve trade disagreements without resort to such emergency measures."
US President Donald Trump had imposed 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum. On Friday, Trump tweeted that trade wars are good, and easy to win.
"When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win," Trump said in twitter.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.